Buildings and the title The Santa Alvera Murders by Brett Marlo.
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The Santa Alvera Murders is a genre-bending modern pulp mystery/thriller that blends elements of classic detective fiction, high-stakes thrillers, and just a touch of science fiction into a fresh, cohesive form. It delivers the excitement of 1930s pulp fiction, but with modern character development and cultural sensibilities. The story follows our protagonist, Patti, who arrives on the island hoping for a vacation filled with live music, daiquiris, and great food. Her relaxation is short-lived, however, when she becomes entangled in the murder of a famous street magician. As Patti begins to unravel the case through the island's twisted, tourist-filled streets, it soon becomes clear that she's not quite who we think she is.







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The Santa Alvera Murders

A Mystery Thriller by Brett Marlo





A picture of a typewriter

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Shadows. It was the shadows that caught Patti's attention—ethereal forms dancing amongst the crowded shops and back alleys of the Muralla district. Neon lights, flickering gas lanterns, and the headlights of passing cars induced all manner of elongated and fantastic projections throughout the twisting Santa Alvera streets. There was something about them that made her uneasy. As she walked past a bright coffee shop doorway and back into darkness, her brown eyes glimpsed one shadow in particular—one less elongated, more human than the rest—one that exhibited a motion less random than it was purposeful. As she turned her head toward the shadow, it retreated instantly back into the void, where it remained just beyond her perception, elusive. She told herself it was her overactive subconscious playing tricks again, for it had certainly done so before. But periodically, just around the time she had convinced herself there was nothing to it, she’d catch another dark movement off to the side somewhere, on a rooftop, or in a doorway, and she would start to wonder all over again: Am I being followed?





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The silhouette of a woman standing at the doorway of a dark room having just fired a gun.

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Art © Christopher J. Miller All Rights Reserved -- Text © Brett Marlo All Rights Reserved

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